About After the Voyage: An Irish American Story by Brenda Murphy:
Maggie Qualter and Richard Terrett both sail to America as young adults in 1870, having survived Ireland’s Great Hunger as children. After the death of the young wife he loves passionately, Richard marries Maggie with the help of a deceptive go-between who brews trouble in their marriage that never goes away. They raise three children in the midst of Irish American culture, the Catholic Church, and Richard’s battles for the workingman in the Knights of Labor. Their daughter Mary dreams of being a nun, while Josie seeks the freedom of big-city life in Boston. Neither reckons on the future she will face. Son Tom escapes factory life by joining the Navy, manages to see the world in the midst of two wars, and comes home to marry his sweetheart and start a new life in California. After the Voyage tells a story that is both remarkable and familiar to everyone whose ancestors made their way to and in America.
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Author Bio:
Brenda Murphy is the great granddaughter of Irish immigrants and the author of twenty books about American literary and cultural figures. Recently, she has concentrated on writing criticism, biography and fact-based historical fiction like After the Voyage and Becoming Carlotta. Brenda taught American literature and drama, first at St. Lawrence University and then at The University of Connecticut. She lives in Maryland.